State gives green light for sugar miller sales

NAIROBI, Thursday

The Government has given the go-ahead for the privatisation of state-owned sugar factories once their debt is restructured and if Parliament approves, a statement from the President’s office said.

"Most of these factories are underperforming and heavily indebted while two are under receivership," the statement said, referring to the sugar millers Miwani, Nzoia, Muhoroni, Chemelil and Sony.

The five companies are in urgent need of modernisation to survive an expected onslaught following the licensing of four new sugar millers and as Kenya removes import safeguards in 2012.

Buy a stake

The statement did not give a timeline for the privatisation but said farmers would have an opportunity to buy the shares as individuals or as part of cooperatives.

In January, the then Agriculture Minister William Ruto said the Government planned to offload 51 per cent to strategic investors and another 30 per cent to farmers.

It costs Kenyan millers $550 to produce a tonne of sugar compared with a regional average of $350, according to the Kenya Sugar Board.

Meanwhile, confined field trials of genetically modified maize will begin in Kenya and Uganda this year once regulators approve it, the US-based non-profit African Agricultural Technology Foundation said.

Scientists from Kenya and Uganda research bodies, Monsanto and research body International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre developed the 12 varieties of Water Efficient Maize for Africa (Wema) due to be planted.

Maize is the most widely grown staple food in Africa and is badly affected by drought. The scientists aim for the drought-resistant GM maize to increase yields by 24 to 35 per cent.

"Everything we have seen in the simulated trials shows that we can safely test transgenic maize varieties in carefully controlled and confined field trials in Africa," James Gethi, the Wema-Kenya country co-ordinator, said.

Scientists conducted mock trials in simulated conditions in Kenya and Tanzania last year. The transgenic maize will now be planted in one to two hectare confined fields once Kenya and Uganda give approval.

—Reuters